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Reflections | Bend the knee to a royal? I’m lucky I don’t have to – though the Singaporeans that came before me did so more than once in their lifetimes

  • Although not the case any longer, many Singaporeans of a certain age had to swear allegiance to a ruling monarch – for some, to several in their lifetimes
  • Before its independence, Singaporeans were subjects of Malaysia’s king. Before that, it was occupied by Japan – and before that, they were ruled by UK royalty

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King Charles III waves as he leaves the balcony of Buckingham Palace following his coronation on May 6 in London. The recent focus on him has brought to mind how lucky Singaporeans are to not have to bend the knee to a royal – although that has not always been the case. Photo: Reuters

For anti-monarchists, the past week must have been excruciating as they watched people fawning and simpering over a privileged group of grandees in fancy dress. I am referring, of course, to the coronation of the British king, Charles III, and the expensive pantomime paid for by British taxpayers.

What goes on in the heads of people who eagerly bow and scrape before their emperors, kings and sultans, who have done nothing to deserve their privilege and our deference, other than being born to the right parents?

But they are a link to our past, you say. The British royal family boasts a 1,000-year bloodline. The Japanese emperor, for those who believe in fairy tales, is a direct descendant of the sun goddess.

We are all descendants of bloodlines that stretch back to the earliest humans, except our ancestors did not enrich themselves by waging war, plundering and slave trading. Or perhaps they did, but we are in the furthest fringes of the family tree to reap the fruits of that now.

George VI was king of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and sovereign of Singapore, Malacca, Penang among other British imperial possessions from 1936 until his death in 1952. Photo: Getty Images
George VI was king of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and sovereign of Singapore, Malacca, Penang among other British imperial possessions from 1936 until his death in 1952. Photo: Getty Images

I am lucky that I have not had to bend the knee before a crowned head of state. I have sworn allegiance maybe once to a president who occupied his office by virtue of his own accomplishments, not his birthright.

My parents, in contrast, were subjects, at least nominally, to four monarchs in their lifetimes – though, if you ask them now, they would probably say they were too young to remember or too busy to care.

Having lived his whole life in the modern cities of Singapore and Hong Kong, Wee Kek Koon has an inexplicable fascination with the past. He is constantly amazed by how much he can mine from China's history for his weekly column in Post Magazine, which he has written since 2005.
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